April 12, 2007

In the event to which Ms.Jan Ruff O’Herne testified, one person was shot dead.

In the event to which Ms.Jan Ruff O’Herne testified, one person was shot dead.

Ms.Jan Ruff O’Herne (84,Former Dutch:An Australian nationality now) testified in Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific, and the Global Environment Committee on Foreign Affairs U.S. House of Representatives, Hearing on Protecting the Human Rights of Comfort Women,Thursday, February 15, 2007.

The event to which she testified is called a “Semarang event”.
It is assumed that 35 Dutch women had the officer of a Japanese army done the compulsion taking in the comfort place in Indonesia in February, 1944.
This was an act in contradiction to the instruction of a Japanese army. This came to light to the Japanese army top management, and the comfort place was closed two months later.

This matter was judged a Batavia temporary court-martial by a Dutch army in 1948.
It was recognized that 25 of 35 had been compulsorily taken in the trial.
11 people undertook the conviction. The major considered to be a principal offender was shot dead. (The Netherlands has not disclosed the trial record of this event. The realities of the event are indefinite. )

It is assumed that at least 65 of 200-300 Dutch females who are working at the comfort place in Indonesian various places were victims of the compulsion prostitution in the Dutch government report in 1994.
The group named JES was formed in 1990. They requested acknowledge liability and amends of about 20,000 dollars per person from Japanese Government. Japanese Government paid 255 million yen, and the “atonement projects ” ended in 2001.

Ms.Jan Ruff O’Herne was a material witness in the trial of the “Semarang event”.
This event is a war crime that some officers and men caused, and it has been solved internationally.

She says that “The Japanese army compulsorily made 200,000 women a comfort woman” not well-grounded. And, she is reviving the problem that the responsibility has already been accomplished.